Teaming up with other Silicon Valley leaders, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched a political group aimed at revamping immigration policy, boosting education and encouraging investment in scientific research.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders took the wraps off a new political advocacy group on Thursday, while vowing to plunge immediately into the national debate over immigration policy.

The new group, backed by a who’s who of prominent and wealthy Internet industry figures, says it will lobby Congress and the White House, while using cutting-edge social-media tools to mobilize public support for immigration reform, better schools and more funding for scientific research.

Calling itself FWD.us, or “Forward U.S.,” the well-heeled group hinted it may also back individual politicians but did not spell out whether it plans to be involved in election campaigns.

“We will use online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes, and we will strongly support those willing to take the tough stands necessary to promote these policies in Washington,” Zuckerberg wrote in an essay for the Washington Post.

Immigration is at the top of their priority list, according to people familiar with the organizers’ thinking, because legislative reforms are now being considered in Congress and they hope to influence that debate.

Current rules force too many foreign students to leave the United States after earning math and science degrees here, and don’t provide enough visas for immigrants who are skilled tech workers and entrepreneurs, Zuckerberg says in the Post essay.

In the essay, which is also posted on the group’s new website (www.fwd.us), he argues that current policies don’t meet the needs of today’s “knowledge economy,” in which “the most important resources are the talented people we educate and attract to our country.”

“We need a new approach” to immigration and education, Zuckerberg writes, adding that he favors “comprehensive” reform that also includes “effective border security” and “a path to citizenship.”

Describing his own great-grandparents as immigrants, Zuckerberg opened the essay with an anecdote from an after-school class on entrepreneurship that he teaches for middle-school students at the Bellehaven Community School in Menlo Park, near Facebook’s headquarters.

“One of my top aspiring entrepreneurs told me he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to go to college because he’s undocumented,” Zuckerberg wrote. “These students are smart and hardworking, and they should be part of our future.”

Similar arguments have been raised by several tech industry trade associations in recent weeks. Zuckerberg and other organizers have not said why they feel the industry needs another advocacy group. But they may be hoping to focus more intensely on a narrow list of issues.

Fwd.us won’t be working on patent reform, data privacy regulations or other issues of industry concern, according to sources familiar with the organizers’ thinking. The group is incorporated under section 501(c)4 of the tax code, which means it will be able to lobby policymakers and may be able to engage in campaign activity, although it can’t coordinate with individual candidates.

“We will use online social organizing, which many of our founders pioneered, to build a movement in the tech community, while engaging in direct advocacy at the state and district level to support members of Congress, regardless of party,” Zuckerberg wrote.

A spokeswoman declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that organizers had planned to launch the group with a budget of $50 million.

In keeping with its avowed bipartisanship, the group has hired political professionals from both sides of the aisle. Rob Jesmer, a prominent Republican strategist, will run the group’s Washington office, while two other staff jobs will be filled by veteran Democrats.

The group’s president will be Joe Green, a former Zuckerberg college roommate who previously launched two startups, Causes and NationBuilder, which provided technology for social action and community organizing. Green and Jesmer were unavailable for interviews Thursday.

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey.

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